THE JOKE'S ON WHO?
Thinking back to that one Halloween night ten years ago, the same question still comes to mind: Who had played a joke on who? Jessie swore his story was true and as far as I know, he still does. Jeff and I were skeptical and to this day I still am. Because of that one certain incident, however, I have not played a practical joke on anyone. Whether Jessie was telling the truth or not, I had learned a valuable lesson.
Two days before Halloween, Jessie somehow found out about Jeff skipping school and had promptly told his parents. Being he older and bigger of the two brothers, Jeff would usually terrorize Jessie to tears whenever they fought. Seldom did he actually ever strike Jessie - scaring his little brother to death was more his style. This was the basis for the practical joke that Jeff's fiendish mind had plotted and being the two's best buddy, I got involved.
The plan was simple - or so it seemed.
"We're having a Halloween party," I can still remember Jeff telling his energetic sibling as the three of us sat on their parent's front porch, overlooking a much neglected lawn, "and everybody wants you to come!" Jessie was instantly interested. The only part of the plan that had me worried was that Jessie was told to walk to the party by himself at eight o'clock instead of coming with us at seven-thirty. By eight it would surely be dark and I thought Jessie would be too scared to go alone. Of course he wanted to know why he couldn't come with us.
"We want to have everything ready before people start showing up," Jeff explained. Jessie seemed satisfied with that and the stage was set.
There were several old abandoned houses near our neighborhood that dotted the vast, grassy landscape, but Jeff chose one close to his own home so Jessie would not get discouraged. Jeff and I left his house at approximately seven-forty, knowing that Jessie would soon follow. Walking down the chipped and neglected road towards the old house a half mile in the distance, fear was present among the two of us, but in the back of our minds. We each carried a sheet. The plan was to sit in the front room of the house, wait for Jessie, then pull the sheets over our heads, hoping to scare the poor little kid. At the time, I was all for it.
The moon was full. As we finally reached the house I almost blurted out my want to go home. The house was spooky. Nevertheless, we entered.
"Ohmigosh!" Jeff exclaimed, "He's right behind us!" Jessie had followed close behind the whole time and I saw a demise in the practical joke. "Get down! Get down!" Jeff whispered as he disappeared inside his white sheet and me into mine. We then placed ourselves in front of a large broken window. It was dark, but with the luminescent glow of the moon, I can imagine what Jessie saw.
I felt sorry for him as he cautiously approached he house.
"Je...Jeff?" he said meekly, then looked towards the house. Within a few seconds, he let out a loud scream then turned around and jolted away back down the road towards home.
Several minutes later, Jeff and I were on our way back home, discussing how the "ghosts" must have looked to Jessie. When we reached his house we agreed to disclose our prank to Jessie, but to first listen to his story, We found him curled up tight in his bed, the lights on. Jeff told Jessie that the party had been canceled and he wanted to now why his little brother was so frightened.
He had seen a ghost, he told us, in the old house where we told him to be at eight o'clock. It was then that we (Jeff and I) decided to let little Jessie know that it was all a joke and that there are no such things as ghosts, but he continued to tell his story. His face was white, he stuttered, and what he told us next was quite a shock.
In the upstairs window, he muttered, there was a "big hairy man" that gloated downward at him. He added that it looked like the man held an ax in his right hand. That, Jessie swore, was what really made him run in fright away from the old house.
Not that Jeff took to beating-up on his little brother instead, but I can honestly say that he did not attempt to scare Jessie again. Remembering the horror in Jessie's eyes that night and recalling the feeling of terror in my own heart at the mention of a big hairy man with an ax, had taught me, as well as Jeff, a very important lesson; a prankster can sometimes become the victim of his own joke.
THE END
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